Photo credit Teslaexteme

 

Examination of Spirit

 

You shall set aside the solstice to judge one another in spirit and in deed, and each man shall change his rank according to that which he has earned in effort and deed. This change shall take place in the dead of the year, and shall be decided at the fullness of light.

The Covenant

 

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The Giving

“Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the Giving*, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the Council, and go thy way. First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift onto him.”

 

Chapter: Light is Sprung Up

* In the tradition of The Way, the Giving is another name given to the occasion of the Solstice

 

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On the shortest day and the longest day of the year he made these days a time for the giving of account. He made them understand such ceremony, which is a ceremony of disburdening the conscience; and he commanded them to make confession of their trespasses to the brother above them in degree of learning, so as to receive the absolution of the Order, so making wrongs right, and removing obstacles of disagreement from amongst the followers. A fault, if there be one, should be confessed by the brother who remembers it and desires to be cleansed and free of it. For a fault, when confessed, shall be light on him, as he shall receive assistance in the avoidance of such wrong again.

The Giving of Account

All extracts are from The Hallowed Book of Man

 

“The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. Neither is the master above his disciple, nor the lord above his servant; they are bound in like need, one of the other.”

 

The Hallowed Book of Man

Chapter: Light is Sprung Up

 

HARRY McGEE, SIMON CARSWELL and MARTIN WALL

A total of 57 employees of two State-owned financial institutions, Irish Life, and Permanent TSB, earn basic annual salaries in excess of €150,000, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has disclosed.

In a response to a Dáil question from Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty, Mr Noonan said some 38 employees of Irish Life receive annual salaries in excess of €150,000, with two earning more than €400,000. It was also disclosed that some 19 employees of Permanent TSB earn more than €150,000 per annum. The bank's recently appointed chief executive Jeremy Masding earns a basic salary of €400,000, while nine employees earn annual salaries of between €200,000 and €399,000.

Further €60,000

Mr Masding also gets a further €60,000 paid towards his pension scheme. He was also in receipt of vouched expenses of €52,034 to compensate for costs incurred in relocating to Ireland earlier this year.

The chief executive of Irish Life, Kevin Murphy, received a salary last year of €500,000 and “other remuneration” of €86,000. Mr Doherty said last night that Mr Murphy's pay package breached the Government's own pay cap of €500,000 and added that his question had elicited the information that Mr Murphy, who is 62, will retire on an annual pension of €305,000.

Mr Doherty described the payment levels as obscene.

 

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“The moneychangers and the usurers shall cry out in despair of their trade, and will offer you and the Lamb ransom to change your course. Turn your back upon them, for they know only evil; and misery is their trade among men. And they know what evil they do: for they lust after the fruits of gold, and do no labour. They grow not, yet they reap; and sow only the seeds of slavery for their own gain; and harden their hearts as does the common harlot, against all things that are right among men.”

For those with ears to hear

For I say to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as the Brethren hath dealt to every man the measure of knowledge that he requires in order that he mightest live. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same mind nor the same ways and abilities, so we, being many, are one body in The Way, and every one members one of another.

Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil. Cleave to that which is good. Be kindly-affectioned one to another with brotherly love, in honour preferring one another; not slothful in business; fervent in spirit, serving the Lords of the brotherhood of the Nazarenes. Be thou rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, distributing hospitality.

Protect thyselves against those who persecute you. Condemn not easily, for all are deserved of the right to put right that which they have done wrongly. Forgive not easily lest bad practice shall be encouraged. Rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep not with them that weep, for it shall be of no assistance onto them. Better that thou assist in goodly and useful manner.

Be of the same mind one toward another: and where there is difference, converse, and learn one from the other until both see the light. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate, and raise them up. Be not wise in your own conceits: in such manner is a man destroyed.

Extract from The Hallowed Book of Man

(Chapter: In that Long-off Time)

While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him, “Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.”

But he answered and said unto him that told him, “Who is my mother? Was she not but as a whore of the temples of the virgins, and sold herself as a common prostitute? And who are my brethren, for they know not their fathers, and seek me out only for their own gain? Except for James, who abides with me and within me forever, for he shows only love; and love is a greater gift given for its own sake, and not for reward.”

And he stretched forth his hand toward the Nazarenes there present,•his heart was full and his eyes were full of tears,•and said, “Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of that which is good, the same is my brother, and sister and mother. We Brothers need no other brothers unless they are pure in mind and in spirit.”

 

Extract from The Hallowed Book of Man

(Chapter: For the Son of Man is Lord of the Veil)

The Force that is above all things is the Force that is beneath all things

His disciples said, “Lord, , and who is it that reveals?”

The Lord said to them, “He who seeks knowledge reveals wisdom.”

 

From The Hallowed Book of Man

(Chapter: Teachings of the Sixth High Lord)

 

For they stand so between the Pillar of Life and the Pillar of Death

Judas said to Jesus, “Does the human spirit die?”

Jesus said, “This is why the Force of The All gave the spirits of people to them, as a loan, so that they might offer service: but the great Force of Life ordered things, in order to grant the freedom of will, so that mankind might choose his true Way, and so be rewarded for his choices, and not for his obligations that he cannot avoid.”

Extract from The Hallowed Book of Man

Chapter: The Secret Revelation to Judas Iscariot

 

Photo credit Hquer

And now imagine me; I am as an old tree,

Standing within a windswept field

That was once part of a great forest.

My roots were once deep within the soil of my destiny,

My branches held aloft as if in worship of the sky.

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My winter is here now; it is cold,

And the wind strengthens within the branches of my being.

I no longer can bend with it as when I was but a sapling.

Now I creak, and the timber of by being rends and cracks.

I look out upon the desolation of the forest of my purpose,

Whose destruction that the stupidity of man has brought about.

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If I was a willow I would weep,

If I was a willow I could bend and sway.

But I am an old oak.

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The wind blows strong, and the time of my breaking is close at hand.

Soon I must fall and all the promise contained in that long ago forest,

Shall be but a desolation.

Weep not for me for I am just a tree.

Weep for the forest that once was here, and is and shall be no more.

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© R.G.Crosbie. 8/4/2002

 

Et in arca dei ego sum

 

His disciples said to him, “Show us the place where you are, since it is necessary for us to seek it.”

He said to them, “Whoever has ears, let him hear. There is light within a man of light, and he lights up the whole world. If he does not shine, he is darkness.”

 

Extract from The Hallowed Book of Man

(Chapter: The Writings of Didymus Judas Thomas)

 

Photo copyright The Order of The Way

There are sixty seconds in a minute.

There are sixty minutes in an hour.

There are twenty four hours in a day.

There are seven days in a week.

There are four weeks in a lunar cycle.

There are thirteen lunar cycles in a year.

There are three hundred and sixty five days in a year.

There are seventy years in the proverbial three score and ten, which is the span of a man’s life, approximately.

There are 31,536,000 seconds in one year.

There are 2,207,520,000 seconds in a lifetime.

Imagine that your life is in a bank. Which, in point of fact, it is in a kind of bank.

When you are born 2,207,520,000 seconds are placed in your account in the bank of life.

If these figures represented cents; instead of seconds, would you spend them wastefully, as you do your seconds?

Would you invest for the future?

Would you gamble with them?

Would you use them for profit or pleasure?

Would you leave your bank book lying around unprotected?

As you spend each minute, 60 seconds are removed from your account.

As you spend each hour, 3,600 seconds are removed from your account.

As you spend each day, 86,400 seconds are removed from your account.

There are 365 days in a year, and approximately 70 years to a lifetime

Imagine if these seconds were cents.

As you spend them each day. Each week. Each month.

You have no overdraft facilities and you cannot get a loan or a mortgage. These seconds are all you have.

Spend them with care.

Spend them with thought.

Waste none of them.

The clock was also set when you were born: and nothing stops it from ticking. It’s a real time bomb .

© 2012 R.G. Crosbie